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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29021430">relationship: untitled [and hope it stays so]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/librassynthenol/pseuds/librassynthenol'>librassynthenol</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AYYY we got, Angst, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fake Relationship, Family Relationships - Freeform, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Like, Offscreen character death, S1, Sharing a Bed, WE'VE GOT OC'S NOW, add a little bit of, because shaqs is alive, emotional angst, finishing this fic out of SPITE, i have never been this early to a fandom n it shows, is that a tw? its not graphic so dont worry abt it, it will get worse tho, ive written 12k words, might as well finish it, now, slappin all the tropes together for this one babey, so like. this is going to be a fun one, theres a lot of friendship in here, tw for that?, unrequited feelings, we got the:, writer also wrote this at 1am, writer wrote this on a whim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 12:54:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29021430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/librassynthenol/pseuds/librassynthenol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Did you know?” He excitedly came over to her table at the bar, after the awkward mission brief (and the awkwarder walk out with Ransom, where they just avoided each other on the turbolift.) “The Ankorrians believe in our equivalents of soulmates?”.</p><p>“No I did not Boims, indulge me.” she exhaled in defeat, leaning back into a couch in the bar, eyes only flicking to the senior staff table, once in a while unconsciously. She unwrapped a bar of chocolate, and laid her wavery gaze on her fellow Ensign. </p><p>“So, you see, in Ankorra, most people are bonded to one another.”</p><p>“Right?”</p><p>“They’re bonded telepathically. It’s kinda like a beacon, leading one to the other.”</p><p>“Soulmates?”</p><p>“Yeah something like that…”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beckett Mariner/Jack Ransom, Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway, Minor or Background Relationship(s), but miiiiiiiiiiinor, its not even here Yet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. USS bullshit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i believe that this ship has potential. also i am HERE for the himbo/jackass combo. i have Many Emotions for this &amp;&amp; i have legitimately never been to a fandom as early and little as this one. So desperate for content that ig i had to make it bare handed on a google docs. I've like. written it. on pen and paper, so im here trying to transcribe my awful 1am handwriting here. aaanyway, this is my first fic for this fandom, so if u liked this, give a kudo!! (or a comment. comments make my day omg.)</p><p>edit 22/3: I HAVE EXAMS. I HAVE MOCKS. this is SO scary. aaaaa. so bear with me on updates okay? things r amping up a little. So thank u for bearing w me. Thank u Very Very much.</p><p>edit 03/04: BRO MY EXAMS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED - well no - they've been pushed back to the 21st of JULY!!! so thats fun!!! I should get back on my update schedule soon !!! (i think?? it's updates on thursdays??? im not too sure time is just kinda ??? rn) anyway i hope u like this !!!!! give this a kudo or a comment....PerHaps</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as Boimler squeezed out of the door of the captain’s ready room, she raised an eyebrow at the two standing in front of her. “Anyway…” she paused for effect, “the Ankorrians have strict rules on who sets foot on their planet.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah we know it all. They’ve got all that soulmate bullcrap,” Mariner yawned, lazily; the man next to her tensing and flicking his eyes between her and the captain.</p><p> </p><p>“What they DO believe in,” she cleared her throat, “is NONE of our business, but as their second contact, we must abide by their rules.”</p><p> </p><p>“You could have literally sent like. Anyone!” Mariner snapped, and Jack wants to agree with her, “but oh yeah!” she turned to him, “Mister Suckup here would loooove to go!” </p><p> </p><p>That’s it, she’d earned the ‘Ransom Glare’, which he shot, his mouth set in a straight line. Captain Freeman cleared her throat again, and she looked to her first officer, “Thoughts?”</p><p> </p><p>“To be completely honest with you here, I’m inclined to agree with Ensign Mariner on this one…” He trailed off, first noticing the captain’s glower in front of him, and then Mariner’s smile to the side. </p><p> </p><p>“Great,” she said, after a moment, “Continue agreeing like this, and the mission will be over in no time.” She patted Jack’s shoulder, “I’m gonna give you a day to put together a convincing act.”</p><p> </p><p>“YOU can't give us ANYTHING!” </p><p> </p><p>“You are dismissed,” the Captain firmly nodded, and Jack turned to leave before Mariner continued. </p><p> </p><p>“Literally! They gave you ONE day for a buffer time. WHY don't you just send a REAL couple in? Anything’s more believable than” she pointed at Jack and then back at herself, squinting.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure the captain has her reasons,” he placed a placating hand on her shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“She has NO reason,” Beckett turns, not sure how she feels about the hand on her shoulder, and chooses to ignore it, “She’s literally doing all this to spite me.”</p><p> </p><p>“You. Are. Dismissed.” Freeman’s voice sounded as sharp as a bat'leth, and Mariner (for once) doesn’t want to stretch her mother any further.</p><p> </p><p>But Ransom surprised her, “Yeah I gotta ask….Captain Freeman. What were the logistics behind this?”</p><p> </p><p>“I will throw you two into the Brig for insubordination,” she threatened, hand hovering over the security button on her panel. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, no that’s not a great choice.” Mariner scowls. </p><p>“Yeah that’s because she-”</p><p>“Loves the brig? Yes, I know. I know.” Freeman sighed, and slumped back in her leather chair, a hand running over the bridge of her nose. </p><p> </p><p>“Listen. You,” she gestures to Ransom, “are my First Officer, my number one. The one guy I can trust.”  And when she says this, Mariner can almost see Ransom’s face light up with the praise. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Pshh, he looked like the biggest suckup in probably ever. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>In a kind of sweet way. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Perhaps.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Almost.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Jack ransom did not look sweet and adorable at all. No.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“And Ensign Beckett,” she continues, “because she can think on her feet faster than even me. She’s got more hands on experience than any of the crew. She has properly seen things.”</p><p> </p><p>What she failed to mention, was the fact that she’d seen Jack Ransom giving multiple sappy glances at Mariner, and she wanted to know why</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. frozen margaritas and soulmate chat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>wow im publishing 2 chapters in one day I AM ON A ROLL. this is painfully short and i literally don't know how to write dialogue. anyway,,,,,, i hope you like this!!!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She’d accepted her fate. The Diplomatic Mission was in tomorrow, and the Ankorrians were an extremely volatile species. There was no way she could excuse herself from this mission, or screw it up. Wrecking her own life? Something she could do. But when it came to others’ lives, she hesitated. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you know?” Boimler excitedly came over to her table at the bar, after the awkward mission brief (And the awkwarder walk out with Ransom, where they just avoided each other on the turbolift.) “The Ankorrians believe in our equivalents of soulmates?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No I did not Boims, indulge me.” she exhaled in defeat, leaning back into a couch in the bar, eyes only flicking to the senior staff table, once in a while unconsciously. She unwrapped a bar of chocolate and laid her wavery gaze on her fellow Ensign. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, you see, in Ankorra, most people are bonded to one another.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes those bonds are platonic, like a best friend who knows you better than yourself. But mostly, it’s romantic bonds.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Romantic Telepathic Soulmates?” Beckett raised her eyebrows in surprise, and at that moment, the turbolift doors whooshed open, and a Very Tired first officer stumbled into the Bar. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Brad smirked, catching sight of Mariner’s expression as Commander Ransom took his place on the senior officer’s table, “Yeah just like that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So why can’t we just be platonically bonded?” Mariner leaned over the table, elbows resting on the table. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I overheard a conversation between The Captain and Dr T’ana,” Tendi started, rather too loud “you know, when I had the swing shift that one- ”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The entire group shushed her abruptly, and she mouthed a little ‘sorry’ before continuing quietly, “They were saying something about the fact that the Ankorrans only wanted to see a married couple of diplomats. And they weren’t taking no for an answer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tendi took a sip of the frozen margarita in front of her, mouth dry from talking; the others stared at her, expectantly, waiting for her to finish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And both of them thought that you two,” she gestured at Mariner and looked pointedly at Jack, who caught her eye. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, okay. Us two. Continue?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That you two were the best for the job.” Tendi finished and waved excitedly at Rutherford, who was walking over to the table. Hair messy, probably from crawling around in the jefferies tubes for too long. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Youur mission is tomooooooorooow,” Boimler said in a sing-song voice, “better start preppiiing!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go fuck yourself Boimler,” Mariner deadpanned, her hand tightening around her own glass, half full of whiskey. She really couldn’t be arsed to do bullshit like this</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if u liked this, leave a kudooooooooooooooo</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. sleeping shifts, eggs and framed photos</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"-and two, who the fuck takes a shower and cooks a fucking egg two hours into their sleep shift?"</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello and welcome to me taking a character and delving d e e p e r into their personality. this time I wanted to simply zoom into Jack's character. Just Because. I just think that a lot of things can be said about him, and the way he is. <br/>Also, there's a Lot of Description in this because thats the only thing i can write!!!<br/>[ Also my friends thought it would be funny to give a Jack Thirstrap. So Here We Are. ]<br/>I apologize in advance for any grammar/spelling errors, I'm writing this WHILST revising for my chem test (in three days :// ) Anyway I hope y'all like it!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, swinging behind her as she knocked on the door to the First Officer’s quarters. It was two hours into the Alpha Shift’s break, and she could hear the distinct voices of the Delta shift crew working away on the ship. </p><p> </p><p>That’s all this ship ever was, a never-ending circle of crew, working away, with the constant hum of the warp core as a backing track. </p><p>Was there more to life on a starship? Never seeing the light of day, surrounded by the depths of the dark unknown? Skipping thousands of unanswered questions, to explore further? </p><p> </p><p>As soon as she knocked she could feel regret seeping in. Commander Ransom wouldn’t be awake this late an hour, all the senior officers had strict sleeping schedules (she knew from firsthand experience), to be fully alert on duty. (nobody actually cared about the sleeping habits of the lower decks. Mariner also knew this from firsthand experience. She’d been running on 3 hours nearly every day.) </p><p> </p><p>So what really surprised her, was the hurried sound of a “stop pounding on my door!” coming from the other side of the door. She stopped in her tracks and smiled a little to herself, hearing the click of the automated lock. </p><p> </p><p>“You don’t need to knock! This isn’t the 1990s,” an exhausted voice came from the inside.</p><p> </p><p>“It only works if you say come in,” Mariner could almost hear the tease in her voice as she refused to open the door, a booted foot placed against the wall, arms crossed. </p><p> </p><p>“Alright then,” Ransom groaned, “come innnnn.”</p><p> </p><p>And she did, stepping into the room painted a soft umber; she could smell the distinct smell of a sizzling egg(?) , with hints of sandalwood and oranges (?) , and steam. </p><p> </p><p>A lot of steam. </p><p> </p><p>“What the fuc-” She turned, to see Jack leaning on the side of the doorway between his living quarters, and the bathroom behind him. His electric blue eyes met Mariner’s own soft brown, and she could almost feel them searching into her soul. His arms were crossed, his torso dripping wet, and very naked. His hips had a relatively small blue towel hanging around them, leaving his chest bare, and tiny droplets of water rolled down his sleek, tanned abs. Mariner could feel something creeping into her, [<em>fuck, he was really hot like this</em>] but she let none of it show on her face, keeping her face unreadable, mouth set in a firm line. Water dripped to the floor, falling onto his arms while he tousled his drenched blonde hair, usually shiny and straight, now wavy, flopping over his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Then she blinked, “You should have said another time Jackass.” She smiled smugly at that pun, feelings washed away, hands resting on each other behind her back. </p><p> </p><p>“Uh? Let me remind you that it was YOUR idea to show up at my door. THIS LATE!” He indignantly replied back, throwing his hands up in the air. </p><p> </p><p>“Okay one,” she raised a finger, “I had to show up sometime before tomorrow-”</p><p> </p><p>“And naturally you’d leave it until the absolute last moment” he muttered to himself. </p><p> </p><p>“And two-” she paused to sniff the air, the distinct smell of spices hanging in the air around them.</p><p> </p><p>"Two?" he raised a questioning eyebrow</p><p> </p><p>She was pulled back to reality with the coldness in his voice, "-and two, who the fuck takes a shower and cooks a fucking egg two hours into their sleep shift?"</p><p> </p><p>He walked towards the stove, gently scraping the egg off the pan and onto the green plate beside it, waiting. "Well-" he pauses to reach for a knife from the drawer on the other side of the kitchen space, "-obviously I do."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah no shit my guy," she absentmindedly eyed the egg, replicators had nothing on good ol' terrain eggs, "where did you GET something like This?"</p><p> </p><p>"What? You want some?" He asked, catching her wandering eyes, a small smile on his face, a butter knife pointing at the egg.</p><p> </p><p>"Sure why not," she played it off coolly, grasping the fork he handed her, and sitting on the stool next to the table.</p><p> </p><p>She took a small bite, and the first thought she had was: <em>holy</em> <em>shit this guy can COOK?? </em></p><p> </p><p>The commander had talents in things she'd never had expected of him. </p><p> </p><p>"...Earth to Ensign Mariner? Earth to Beckett?" He clicked his fingers in front of her face, and Mariner looked back at him. Oh, he was saying something.</p><p> </p><p>"Yes…?"</p><p> </p><p>"I was saying that I wasn't the only one with an excess of contraband on this ship." He laughed a little, shaking his head, water falling onto the floor below with a sharp "tap."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah but why the eggs and the shower? These are your off duty hours." Beckett stabbed the yolk with her fork, as Ransom watched from the other side of the table.</p><p> </p><p>"Helps me think," he simply replied, tapping his head.</p><p> </p><p>"Didn't think you did much of that Jackass-" she punched his arm, fist meeting with pretty much solid muscle. Ransom looked like he was holding in a laugh as Mariner puller away, shaking her fist. </p><p> </p><p>"Okay then-" he stood up, and turned around, stretching his arms as he did so, Mariner staring for the few seconds; an admiring, soft gaze, "-make yourself at home then. And I'll uh clear up."</p><p> </p><p>Mariner replied with a short "Yeah yeah, whatever," slowly being distracted by the room around her. Weights lay scattered on the carpeted floor, alongside open folders, full of papers of a confidential nature. </p><p> </p><p><em>Huh</em>, Mariner thought to herself, maybe he isn't as well put together as she thought he was. Perhaps there were insecurities behind that perfect picture, behind what he tried to portray himself as. </p><p> </p><p>Behind her, stood a brown chestnut desk, with a PADD strewn over it, along with framed photos. Photos of a grinning younger Jack, holding a Starfleet academy diploma; him with a man slightly older than and very much like him ( a brother perhaps?); him in the loading deck of the USS Hesperides, an ensign's pip on his collar. </p><p> </p><p>His whole life was here, on display; and something about the half open, empty drawer in that desk told her that he didn't leave this exhibit for every lone visitor in his room. And Mariner realised that he’d <em>chosen </em>to keep them up here, or perhaps she hadn't given him enough time to conceal them away; either way, she felt a little special knowing that however strained their relationship was, they still had some kind of trust between them. </p><p> </p><p>She felt a pang in her own heart. She wanted to have a place to put her photos; showing off her friends, her family, her life. But she'd chosen the Lower decks life for herself, with as many downs as it had ups. </p><p> </p><p>Her brown eyes lazily scanned the other side of the room. A bed neatly made with a velvet blanket covering the mattress, satin pillow propped against the black headboard. Bedside table with a green digital clock, golden nibbed fountain pen (slightly leaking), a well thumbed copy of <em>‘Romeo and Juliet’. </em></p><p> </p><p>The bathroom door creaked, and Ransom walked out, wearing a bright orange t-shirt with faded lettering on it, and a pair of cargo shorts with pockets he dug his hands into. </p><p> </p><p>“Romeo and Juliet?” Mariner questioned, chin resting on her hand as she leaned forward, across the table. </p><p> </p><p>Ransom shrugged, “I was bored?” [he actually had an obsession with classic books. sometimes they were a wonderful place to escape into. 15th Century Verona and 19th century London were easier places to slip into when it was your 78th consecutive day in space with nothing interesting happening] </p><p> </p><p>“Anyway-“ he was quick to change the topic, “any ideas for our cover tomorrow?”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if you liked it, maybe drop a comment &lt;3333</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. you're not perfect, but you're alright I guess....</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Yeah…” he sighed, “I’m meant to be Mr Perfect, with the perfect jawline, perfect job, the perfect life…. I don’t tell people about my own problems.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>who has a bio test they havent revised for tomorrow? ME. who wrote this all today? ALSO ME.<br/>this chapter's all about their developing relationship, the banter! the competition!   I love these two with my entire heart and i hope good things happen to them. Also i think this is turning into a semi? slow burn. Because i've planned the next SIX chapters out and in NO WAY do any of them reveal their feelings to one another. i like idiots in love as a trope. It's perfect. Anyway I hope you like this, sorry for any grammar errors and whatnot.<br/>OH i also made an edit for these two heres the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43jz8xJm9G0&amp;t=72s</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“To be completely honest with you here,” He started, “I don’t know why the captain thought that us two? Were a good idea.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She did list off our qualities but-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why us?” He finished, watching as Mariner bit the pen (his pen)  in her hand, a puzzled look on her face, and she paused when she caught his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You- you-“ She flicked the pen in her hands and pointed it towards him, “want this back?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He started at the pen for a moment, “oh no no, im cool-“ and threw his hands up in defeat. Somehow Beckett still had a weasley little grin on her face. She really knew how to piss him off (and to be completely honest it was a little endearing. (she literally had personalised ways of annoying him, that’s something that needs thought.) But he’d rather die than admit this to anyone but himself) </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cover cover cover…” she tapped the pen between her fingers and her thumb.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well-“ Ransom said, “-why don't we start with the basics”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s literally bullshit we can make it up.” She replied, “it's not like we’re real or anything.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah no imagine that.” He nervously laughed, Mariner deadpanning him once again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Moving on.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Moving on” Mariner raised her eyebrows and the pen ceased to move, “Okay then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do all couples...who have been together for uh-“ he dragged the last words out, how would he even word this, “-for uh. for. for a decent? Amount of time? Know about each other?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno?” Mariner shrugged, and reached for a glass on the counter, “fill me up?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can just replicate it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah but it's ALLLL the way over thereeee” she pointed at the replicator behind Ransom, and he turned and looked at her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. But after this. We plan.” He grumbled, getting up from his stool to replicate a glass of water, bringing it down to the table with a ‘thump’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sat opposite each other, contemplating this cover, none of the two had ever been in a long term relationship longer than three months, both of them quickly lost their charm after a few weeks. Mariner’s charm crashed with her recklessness and Ransom lost his because he couldn’t let anyone see behind his mask of confidence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re soo great for the job,” Ransom rolled his eyes, after a three minute silence “I mean I am this close to pa-“ </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How long they've been together,” Mariner butted in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What??” Ransom questioned her, slightly squinting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Had Mariner ever seen a therapist? No? Huh</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For your question, most couples know how long they’ve been together.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I cannot believe I didn’t think of that!” Ransom said, voice somehow dripping with both sarcasm and genuine relief. (He confused Mariner a lot of the time.) </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabbed the pen from Mariner’s hands and started writing on the page. “So, how long have we been together?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno,” Mariner paused, “Like 2 years?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom placed his arm on the table, his chin resting on his hand, “No no. Longer. We want them to think we’re perfectly in sync.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner groaned, “alright how long have we known each other.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What, like know OF you? or know KNOW you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you think Jack?” She raised an eyebrow, “what do you think.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I say. Yeah we’ve known each other for six years now,” he stopped to take a breath. Six goddamn years. Six. Years. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d first flirted with her in the academy, his last year. At a party, on the academy holodeck. This time, they were in a town, in northern Italy - Verona - and he’d tried in a small bar in the place. She was a year younger than him and she’d thrown vodka in his face, remorselessly. Then rolled her eyes and glared at him as he stood up, watching him stalk back to his friends, wincing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Since then they’d been bumping into each other; starfleet conferences, parties, diplomatic dinners. Awkwardly making eye contact, smiling. They’d kept in somewhat touch over the years, a few PADD group texts with others and some work updates keeping them from completely forgetting the other’s existence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After Mariner’s demotion (and quick reassignment onto the Cerritos) , neither of them acknowledged actually knowing each other. They barely had to work with each other, but when they did; Mariner was sick of his kiss-ass nature and Ransom was tired of her neverending rash actions. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Six years of awkward meets and a few distant mutual friends, and now the Captain wanted them to do all this??? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oi! Oi! Ransom?” Mainer clapped her hands in front of his face, and he jolted, looking up. “Where were you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Risa.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Take me with you?” Mariner looked up at him, teasing brown eyes. Jack decided not to respond to that, and cleared his throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright so…” he started to note down on the page, “known for six years and married for five?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“FIVE??” Mariner gasped, “that's unbelievable ! Say we were married for four years.” She grabbed the pen from his hand, and crossed out the five, writing a large four on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then. Fine. Four years-“ he doesn’t put up a fight as she yanks the pen, “- okay yeah i get you. four years seems realistic.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then,” she huffed, “this is easy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got one thing down and it’s been nearly an hour since you showed up!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Details,” she tipped her head back, and her eyes met the brown of the ceiling, dim lights on the walls around them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But yeah, I like it being easy.” He rubbed his hands after a while, and Mariner pulled herself back to the table, “I like things going smoothly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who doesn’t?” Mariner replied, voice bored, drawing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not you, evidently-“ he paused, “-but i don’t wanna start this again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hard agree.” Mariner looked amused, and focused her eyes on the page, “ ‘kay what else?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno … wives and husbands always know things about each other.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought you’d know that.” He gave a tight lipped smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner shook her head, “My family’s been more...long distance. y’know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I get it, family’s a bit of a touchy subject for me.” He mumbled. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any reason?” As soon as she asked this, Mariner knew she’d gone into unknown territory, because Jack’s jaw stiffened and he rubbed the bridge of his nose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both of them fall into uncomfortable silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My dad died when I was six.” He broke the lull, taking a deep breath before he spoke. Trying to seem unemotional, his voice slightly cracking. Mariner blinked at him, and immediately reached a hand out, to his shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about this couple stuff,” Mariner sounded uncertain.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit she didn’t know anything about all this serious stuff. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, its okay. I literally haven’t told anyone about this.” He bit his lip, eyes flicking to see her reaction. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her face stilled for a moment, like she was processing something, “really?” she blurted out, before she could stop herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…” he sighed, “I’m meant to be Mr Perfect, with the perfect jawline, perfect job, the perfect life…. I don’t tell people about my own problems.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Has Ransom ever seen a therapist? No? Huh</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I don’t think you’re Mr Perfect,” Mariner’s face is kind, her eyes looking straight back at him, “You’re not perfect, but you’re alright I guess…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom smiled back at her, and she could see his eyes glistening. For a moment, she could almost imagine how different his life was from hers. She could almost get away with anything; press restart and try again. But Ransom had some kind of reputation he needed to maintain, a reputation without recklessness and stupid decisions. She could just... be whoever she was. Just exist the way she was. He had to keep up appearances. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But both of them hid secrets about their families from everyone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So yeah, after...uh that…whole thing…” he searched for the words, “My mom never really found anyone else, and I realised that the thing about commitment and,” his voice lowered, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Is that, you’ll come to </span>
  <em>
    <span>depend </span>
  </em>
  <span>on them. And sooner or later, they’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>go</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and you’ll be left with nothing but memories.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He felt remorse hitting him, and he doesn’t even try to hide it. The same two questions raced around in his mind; </span>
  <em>
    <span>Did he tell Mariner too much</span>
  </em>
  <span>?  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Did he let her in behind the mask</span>
  </em>
  <span>?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ransom- Jack.” Beckett squeezed his hand, “Dude, you didn’t tell me too much.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit he’d said that out loud.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She took a deep breath, hand slowly withdrawing, “Hiding’s easy, heck I’ve been hiding my whole life.” ( she casually leaves out what she’s hiding from; she’s hiding from order, discipline, all the things her mother wants her to have. But she doesn’t say, of course she can’t say, they’re still on the Cerritos, she can’t have the crew knowing she’s the captain's daughter. )</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t say it’s very good though.” She put her chin on her hand, and stared out of the window in Ransom’s quarters, “You talking about it is better than you hiding from it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Ransom swallowed thickly, “shit I hope I didn’t bring the mood down too much.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You dampened it, yea,” Mariner said with a hint of a smile, voice staying tentative. (</span>
  <em>
    <span>was it too soon?</span>
  </em>
  <span>) But when Ransom smiled, and straightened up, she continued, more confidently, “But I’m sure we can turn it back to the rave it was.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why? Not willing to lose the chance of a spark?” he smirked, leaning in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No ewwwww!!” Mariner laughed, she could feel the two of them easing back into their familiar banter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not even hypothetically?” He questioned, hands raised. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noooo, we are NOT getting into this,” Mariner half grinned back to him, “but we have to make this fake thing between us...realistic.” She tapped on the page in front of her, “come on we need ideas.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry to stop your little productive burst of energy, but, we literally don’t have anything else to go on.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No experience gang!” Mariner stretched her arm out for a high five, standing a little on the lower bar of the stool to reach Ransom’s, he stared questioningly at her hand, tapping it slightly with his palm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ ‘kay then sourpuss, I didn’t know you didn’t like high five-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Say that again?” Ransom clicked his fingers, “say whatever you said again?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? you didn’t like me calling you a sourpuss, SIR?” Mariner sneered back at him. (Her and Ransom bonding? That was too good to be true. Of course he’d find some stupid little thing to scorn her for.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No no not that,” he shook his head, “uhm, like. You said something about Liking things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I said that I didn’t know you like high fives?” she mumbled doubtfully, “I don’t know where you’re coming from..?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Likes and dislikes! Couple things! They know this stuff!” He smiled, and Mariner clicks her tongue. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah!” Mariner replied, her face slowly turning from suspicion to surprise, “Couple stuff!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I’ll go first,” He clicked his knuckles, “I like….hm... what do you think I like?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So this is a guessing game now huh?” Mariner rolled her eyes at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Always on your feet Ensign,” he smiled, “our alien friends might ask questions spontaneously.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhh, I dunno?” She questioned back, “Uhhh, you like….exercising?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Correct.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Being a suckup kissass?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Harsh but not wrong,” his ears turned pink, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he saw her smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You...like to know what’s happening.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack laughed awkwardly at that, Mariner was being quite accurate at this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you seem pretty assholey, but you’re not thaaaat bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He raised a thick questioning eyebrow at that. “What?” she shrugged, “I was just observing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Charmed, I’m sure.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You also like synthenol scotch, old books and….yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay that was nothing but a callout session,” he ran his fingers through his drying hair, head slightly heavy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, fine, my turn then.” she slumped forward, she’d been sitting on this stupid stool for too long, her joints ached for movement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay then...hm...Beckett Mariner…” he trailed off, “you like being reckless.” He wasn’t surprised at Mariner’s eyeroll at him, “but you do that to try and prove something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Guilty as charged.” She puts a hand up in defeat, “anything else?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You like old style films, and Romulan Ale, and hanging out on the holodeck.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not wrong,” she took a deep breath, “do I even want to hear the rest?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! You like doughnuts, being around your lower deck buddies, before they rank up of course,” he paused, and with a sharp grin and a wicked glint in his eye he added, “and you like yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“First of all, never call me out as hard as that. And secondly, who doesn’t love me?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The captain.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner’s mind whipped back to flashes of her mother caring for her, loving her, guiding her, “noo, I don’t think she hates me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You kidding me?!” Ransom scoffed, “I’ve seen how Carol glares at you. In a maternal disapproving way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You make this sound like workplace drama.” Mariner coolly said, a stark opposite to Ransom’s wide eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey y’know, this whole fake marriage thing won’t be that bad with you.” Mariner said, after a short beat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah I wouldn’t mind you as my wife-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner spluttered, and Ransom immediately regretted the words he’d uttered. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No- no not like. Forever. Like- for the mission- oh god this is so bad”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if you liked it, leave a kUDo oR a cOmMeNT</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. maybe if you slept more we wouldn’t be having these conversations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>SO HALF TERM NERFED ME. half term came at me like a wooden paddle and hit me right in the face. i saID i was going to write and then ,,,, I didn’t. </p><p>I feel like im just dragging this fic on. Like. When will they CONFESS? but. This is just how i write. </p><p>Also this is somewhat of a slowburn so yAy! But i wont write 20k or smth this would be under 10k i cannot write that much i have essays.</p><p>This is a kinda interludey chapter, getting them ready for the mission. Has fluff!!! Kind of!!! This DOES have plot relevance just later on.</p><p>Once again i apologize for any dodgy grammar or spelling mistakes here hhsjdjdjhdj. I really tried to embody their inner thoughts her but i don’t really think Ransom HAS inner thoughts,,,,</p><p>im kidding ofc he does im writing a FIC on him i gotta GIVE him inner thoughts.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mariner could feel her eyelids drooping, and a rogue thought whizzed through her mind. Flashes of a life rising up the starfleet ranks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Reaching Lieutenant … Commander … Captain of the USS Cerritos. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack being her first officer.  Spending an awful lot of time with him. High stakes missions, fancy diplomatic dinners, breakfast in the captain’s ready room, stolen glances in the briefing room, little smiles exchanged over the bridge, slipping into comfortable banter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rumours spreading around the ship. An awkward first date at her quarters, a large bottle of Romulan ale, it’s crystal-like blue, all but glowing. A second date, his quarters, smooth jazz in the background from an old radio. Third date, a holodeck escape to a small 21st century coffeeshop, the smell of ground beans and freshly baked cookies wafting through the air. Fourth date, fifth date... Diamond ring on her finger, white top with a lace trimming, matched with a pastel pair of leggings, yellow flowers in her hair; the soft moonlight of Rigel 9 flooding down on her. Ransom standing near the shore, water softly lapping at his feet, smiling at her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed perfect. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Didn’t it?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A sinking feeling in her stomach brought her back to reality, this wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It seemed perfect, too perfect. Something she wasn’t inclined to. Something she was repelled by, something she’d learnt Ransom was not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shit, she was taking this fake marriage too far, surely this was just a one off, something her mind had weaved to daydream whilst she all but dozed off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She blinked, and cleared her vision, Jack was still in front of her, noses inches apart from each other. His whole focus on the page where they (mostly him) were brainstorming.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mariner?” His voice was gentle, but loud enough to get her to look up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She yawned back an annoyed “what?” Stretching her arms, over her head. Her head throbbed, high ponytail too tight. She loosened her red scrunchie, and placed her elbows back on the table, eyes trying their best to look alert.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is why you shouldn’t stay up until the unholy hours of the Delta shift-“ he got cut off by another yawn, and looked up at her, placing the pen down on the page. Noticing her eyelids closing as she placed her chin on her hands, he cleared his throat, “Ensign if you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll not be functioning at optimum rate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She opened her eyes at that, pupils narrowing, “Oooh, so Mr Goody Two shoes who stays up at night cooking is talking to me about bedtime!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d tell you to piss off,” he straightened his back, distance between them larger with every movement, “but this mission is integral to the safety of our first contact-“ he looks directly into her eyes, mouth set un a firm line, “-and it requires you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Blah blah blah,” she mocked, “you’re starting to sound like Boimler, if he had a higher rank.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Another half-hearted glare was directed in her way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d learnt some things about the First Officer today, which could never never make their relationship as cold as it was. There would always be a sense of...familiarity hanging around the two, conversations being easier, interactions being less forced.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go to sleep,” he tried again , voice kinder this time, “I need this mission to go as smoothly as possible, and I can't have my wife falling asleep on me at the diplomatic dinner.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She laughed, “pshh, as if you care” and received a blank stare back from him, the corners of his mouth turning up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mariner if you can’t be bothered to go all the way down like … uhh …” he paused, lower decks quarters were somewhere down … below … “like 10 floors?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“16-“ she interrupted, Jack’s mouth still open, “-no no no continue, please.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As I was saying,” he yawned, (definitely one caught by Mariner) “if you don’t wanna go down a hundred or so floors, you can crash on my couch.” He gritted his teeth as he saw Mariner consider the offer; </span>
  <em>
    <span>this was only for the mission to go smoothly. It wasn’t like he actually cared about her. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Was it?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jack Ransom? Offering her to doze off on the couch?? Absolutely bonkers. This couldn’t be real.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She jumped off the stool, and reached for her phaser, a shaky hand holding it up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you-“ he pushes back away from the phaser, with Mariner, you could never know if it was set on stun or kill, “-are you implying that I’m taking </span>
  <em>
    <span>advantage</span>
  </em>
  <span> of you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could be a cardassian spy, or a shapeshifter, or a parasite-“ she kept her phaser aimed at him, and he breathed a little sigh of relief when he realised it was on stun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I can assure you, that I’m not any of these things,” he looked like he was holding in a laugh, “</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes, and Ransom could see the eyebags evident. Mariner saw him looking at her, and turned her head slightly, lowering her phaser as she did, “Just checking. I have SEEN things. Can’t be too sure about anything nowadays.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It's all for the mission-“ he breathed; putting his arms on the table, he pushed off, his face frank, “-honest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All for the mission.” She huffed, sitting down on the soft velvety beige couch in the room. Jack walked over to the bed in his sleeping quarters, (it was behind a panel, it wasn’t really a room.) and she could hear sounds of a door sliding,  bedsheets rustling and muted thumps. He trudged in, holding a few pillows and a large blue comforter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All for the mission,” he smiled, repeating her as he threw the pile in a jumbled heap, snickering a little as it hit Mariners face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d pillow fight you,” she held up the pillow, as if deciding what to do with it, “but I’m too tired to even care.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah okay,” he sighed, slapping his thighs with his hands, “just try and get some shut-eye before tomorrow.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How much time do we have?” Her voice was sleepy, she’d already started to burrow herself in the blanket, and Ransom spared a glance at her as he padded towards the notebook. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit, she looked adorable here. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Imagine if she was my girlfriend. I’d get to see that face more often. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ransom?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her voice was sharp, and it broke the spell, his cheeks stop flushing and he cleared his throat, “We’ve got around…” he checks his PADD, “around six hours.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fix the plan!” Mariner called out, as he trudged back to his sleeping quarters, his thoughts still on Mariner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah!” He turned off the lights, and the room fell into a comfortable darkness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was just something about her, that made him [Jack Ransom, the first officer who was often called a William Riker Wannabe] melt into a puddle, and he didn’t quite understand why. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His mind raced over the mission plan one last time, it wasn’t going to be easy. Was it? A three day saunter around an alien planet, pretending to be married. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not the hardest thing he’s ever done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s not like he’s crushing on the woman playing his wife. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if you liked it!! give it a kudo!! Also STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER 6 ive got it all written down it’ll be uploaded a few hours from now , when i WAKE UPPP</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. the interlude chapter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this all points towards some kind of warfare,” Julie bit her lip, voice lowering, “biological warfare. Perfected to attack one single part of the ecosystem, almost undetectably to visitors such as ourselves.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HELLO. i sAID i'd update in a few hours...LAST WEEK.[john mulaney voice ] and then i didnt!  </p><p>In my defence, the maths test i was studying for, fully killed me. And I don't think it went well...at ALL.  </p><p>Here's an interlude chapter, mostly here for plot movement. It only has mentions of the canon characters and it was supposed to be short....ah but you see i got too attached to my own ocs lmao. This was my first step into dabbling with character building from scratch</p><p>So it ended up being 3k+ words fhhsjcnksdc. </p><p>I hope you like this, because it's a little different to the other chapters, and also the first time I've written with own characters. </p><p>Yes! there is PLOT in here, which is pretty much p i vo t a l to the story, since it's basically explaining what's going to happen in the next few chapters. I have some vague gcse biology and chemistry knowlege which helped me s c r a p e some scientific terminology in here lol.</p><p>Your usual mariner/ransom banter resumes after this week :D</p><p>As usual, sorry about all the spelling and grammar mistakes !! Pl e a se call me out on them if you see them :))</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>6 - the interlude chapter</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The constant noise of the warp core filled engineering, accompanied by the soft ‘whirrs’ and hums if the Cerritos. Ensign Onyx’s eyes flicked back and forth, between the map of the planet below, and the power fluctuations that Starfleet had been measuring from it. He stretched his metal arms, tapping his fingers onto the console in front of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Onyx?” A voice called out; emotionless, calm and almost monotonous- he was sure they’d recognised him from his distinctive taps as  “What are you doing up so late?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh nothing Va’as,” he yawned, “Just checking the sensors, makin’ sure everything’s tip top.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lt. Sh’inghal walked into the dark room, a shock of dark black hair, their vulcan robes heavy, trailing behind them.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, is there any problem Ensign?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing to worry about Lieutenant,” he ran a hair through his green hair, mild voice unsure, “there seem to be unusually large electromagnetic surges from the Le’ath’qe part of the planet,” he points to a small continent on the globe. “It's barely populated, so I don't know why it would release so many electromagnetic surges.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Show me these scans?” The Vulcan stated, their words soft, as if they were floating out of their mouth. Onyx handed them the PADD, it’s bright light illuminating their face. He could see how utterly exhausted they looked, dark bags under their warm brown eyes,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He Va’as?” Onyx tapped their shoulder, “dude you look completely wacked out today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmmh?” Va’as looked up from the screen, “ I can assure you Onyx that I am not completely </span>
  <em>
    <span>wacked out</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then, suit yourself-“ he shrugged, mumbling, his next words a little more hesitant, “- I’m going to the bar after my shift, to grab a drink with my friends,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing...I was just thinking...well...if you needed me at that time...you’ll find me at the bar.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Very well then Ensign,” they nod, “be sure to give this data to Lieutenant Commander Billops as soon as possible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Onyx shared a look with the Lieutenant, his mouth opening to say something. But, as soon as they nodded at him, he gave a small polite smile and made his way towards the doors. Lt. Commander Billops’ shift would start in another couple of hours, and he wasn’t very likely to be awake anyway. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the Ensign strolled down the corridors, he felt a small buzz on his chest, and pressed onto his combadge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ensign Onyx?” a familiar, lightly accented voice chirped from the communicator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Francis!” He smiled, “what’s up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We still on for the bar?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could hear the grin in their voice, and he replied “Of course, I just need to drop some things off at my quarters but I’ll be there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah come quick,” they paused, connection a little static, their voice lowered, “I literally can’t find Kashish anywhere.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s not answering any of my hails, and the computer can’t locate her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll find her Francis-” he reassured them, surprised when he was interrupted by another voice beside the person he was chatting to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ten replicator rations she’s going batshit in medical and everyone’s just panicking.” The voice joked, “It’s a starship honey, she couldn't have gone TOO far.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna agree with Sara on this one,” Onyx smiled, placing the PADD on his bed, and setting a reminder in his electromechanical arm, the silver chromium a little tarnished from the oil in engineering, green hair dye still stained on the fingertips, “She isn’t Mariner or anything, she’s probably just fallen asleep in medical.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, I’ll find her,” it seems like a dry statement, but Francis could almost hear it’s warmth as it travels back to their end.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The communicator went silent, and Onyx tossed his uniform on the bed; reaching for a dark t-shirt, a long leather jacket over it. These were off duty hours, and he could do whatever the shit he wanted in them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pressed the badge in the palm, “Ensign Onyx to Dr Nayak?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His reply was silence, accompanied with the constant background noise of the engines, vibrating through the ship. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His voice was higher the next time he hailed her, to another absence of response; he rubbed his eyes, their pale blue now furrowed by the eyebrows above. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s a starship, she couldn’t have gone TOO far” </span>
  </em>
  <span>he reminded himself of Sara’s voice, and gave a small sigh. He didn’t like to go to medical all that often.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Medbay always smelled like one of two things; it was either reeking of blood , or filled with the overwhelming scent of sterility. Onyx almost threw up when he felt the intense antiseptic’s odor in his throat. On his right, stood counsellor Monai, currently shielding her eyes from the harsh bright lights overhead. Betazoids were much more sensitive to light compared to humans...and probably Vulcans, as on his left Va’as made no attempts to dim the lights.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d bumped into the counsellor on the turbolift to medbay - a pleasant surprise - and she’d offered to look for the stray doctor, instantly worried because Kashish not answering her combadge usually meant trouble. He’d given a small smile at that, he certainly wasn’t the closest with the Betazoid, but he knew how much she cared for each person in their little group. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d picked up Va’as on the 7th deck, and when they commented on how “distressed” he looked, he really couldn’t find a better excuse, than to tell them the plain truth. It wasn’t that he didn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>like </span>
  </em>
  <span>Va’as (he enjoyed their company, the Vulcan had really grown on them as a group, ever since they’d given Sam Rutherford a run for his money in engineering. Onyx was </span>
  <em>
    <span>sure </span>
  </em>
  <span>that’s why he’d tried so desperately to change his job.) it was more that he didn’t know Va’as. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Monai on the other hand? He knew she’d known Kashish since the first year of her posting, the two of them joining as a pair into the group. He wasn’t the closest with her, but close enough to confide in. She was a good person….and a pretty good empath; there was barely any point in hiding anything from her. She could probably sense his fear as he stepped into the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Onyx wasn’t too scared of most things - having a little microchip in your brain definitely increased your assurance - but what he hated, were unknown possibilities, and loosing someone he loved to them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To the counsellor, these things seemed as obvious as an open book, but to most people...they didn’t seem to make the connection between a bold front hiding insecurities.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The only other person she’d seen this so intensely on, was Commander Ransom. His desparate attempts to hide his insecurities never went past her radar. That’s why she’d opted to keep away from him, especially personally. Plus, his flirting came on drier than charred up firewood. His gimmicks came off as shallow to her, and she could see right through them. He’d hit on her twice, and it took everything in her to not burst out laughing. He was trying to score a date with her so </span>
  <em>
    <span>badly</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but honestly? Isabelle liked someone who didn’t have a special personality they put on for show, and one they kept for themselves. The third time he’d tried, she’d grown tired of him, and bluntly told him to “go see a therapist.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t been bothered since.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honestly, she was a little disappointed by Ransom when she met him for the first time. Mariner and Boimler had made him out such an ‘indestructible hero’. </span>
  <em>
    <span>But, we all can’t have what we want… </span>
  </em>
  <span>(She also thought whatever little thing was going on between Mariner and Ransom was goddamn hilarious, and the stories of the two’s petty rivalry never failed to amuse her. But she’d never admit it out loud)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as on the other hand, was like a cup half full. They had a firewall so strong, it protected any stray thoughts slipping out, but Isabelle had seen the looks they gave Francis through the months they’d been working on the ship.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Awkward polite smiles, and quick glances.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If they were a human, they couldn’t have flirted more obviously.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Medbay was deserted, to Onyx’s despair, his mind finally starting to explore the possibility that his friend could have possibly gone missing due to some space anomaly. The three of them turned, after they saw his disappointed face, when Va’as heard sounds of a broken sentence, a muffled conversation? Someone was talking in the back office.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“So this bacterium….look at it….silicon based...i’d fuck it not gonna lie…”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as walked towards the room, and Isabelle and Onyx followed, after sharing a questioning look between each other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Va’as?” Onyx cleared his throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can hear voices, coming from the other side of medbay,” they didn’t turn back, but sped up their gait. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah yes, Vulcans and their ears.” Isabelle nodded, mostly just to herself, as Onyx had started running now, to catch up with Va’as. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as reached the door first, solidly locked, “Computer, open door.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door did not comply, making an error noise, and staying locked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I swear to GOD, I’m going to BREAK this door open!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And how do you plan </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Arson.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here let me try-” She coughed, and spoke up from behind the two, walking closer to the door as she did, “Computer open door, override auth code Ransom-seven-gamma-alpha-theta”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the doors swooshed open, Onyx gave her a wide eyed questioning look, and she smiled in response. The three focused their attention to the small room, full of papers and PADDS and containers and chemicals </span>
  <em>
    <span>(now this, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Onyx thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>this smelled like a combination between a candy store, and a chemical facility</span>
  </em>
  <span>.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as’ first words, “So….</span>
  <em>
    <span>who</span>
  </em>
  <span> would you...ahem...fuck???” completely caught the person they were directed to off guard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This bacterium,” a small woman in a fluffy blue jumper waved a small container at Va’as, it barely reaches their nose, “If it were a humanoid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, so we have found your friend then.” They look at the other two, mouth a glimmer of a smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where is your communicator??” Isabelle’s eyes were already searching for any sign of the starfleet issued combadge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah….its uh…” she vaguely gestured to the green substance in a large container to the side of the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that fucking thing moving?” Onyx sounded exasperated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I mean yeah?” She shrugged, “It’s alive? If that’s what you mean.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>fed </span>
  </em>
  <span>some </span>
  <em>
    <span>living space goo </span>
  </em>
  <span>your </span>
  <em>
    <span>communicator</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” She paused, looking to the side, “It fell in and I didn’t want to touch it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes met the others’ and she gave a small smile, “Anyway-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This.” Another voice interrupted, another woman, wearing a blue starfleet uniform, angrily rose from her seat, her curly brown hair flopping over her forehead, like it had a life of its own, “This is what I’ve been dealing with for the past four hours.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down Julie,” Onyx asked, then his face screwed up, “Wait a second, what the fuck are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was on,” she grunted, picking up a large dog, “I’chaya’s dog sitting duty, when she” she pointed towards the blue jumper lady, who looked at her innocently “Kashish here stole it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oi! Ensign Kurti to Isabelle!” Her combadge rang, and she clicked on it, “Yeah this is me Francis?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you find her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah she’s. She's here in medical-“ Isabelle paused, hearing a whoop from the other side, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT did i tell you Francis! I TOLD you she was passed out in medical!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“-Well,” Isabelle continued, “she’s not passed out. she’s fully awake-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Julie interrupted her this time with a “Yeah but she’s probably lucid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“-she LOOKS fully awake, and shes doing a….” Isabelle stares at Kashish for one too many seconds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve stumbled upon a discovery, something that could be HUGE!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Someone angrily thumped on the doors of the biolab-office, and the five them positively jumped when they heard scratching noises. And a loud “yeowl”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Computer open door,” Va’as muttered, and in stalked Dr T’ana, holding a large cup of coffee in one hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is this some sort of fucking party central to you?” She growled, and the other four looked at Kashish, holding onto the container. There was muffled laughter coming from the combadge, and Isabelle nearly threw it in the goo. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dr T’ana, okay so, you gotta listen to this-“ Kashish placed the small container onto the ledge, and reached for the small dirt sample, “I could be on something big here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>T’ana sized up the two scientists. The first one was holding a squirming dog, her eyes still reading a page from the desk in front of her that she’d written. Dr Martinez was a brilliant aspiring scientist - from what she’d heard from Lt.Commander Ashka - she was extremely exceptional with animals, and it looked like she’d gotten her first posting on the Cerritos after passing every class in the academy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d found herself an unlikely friend in Dr Nayak, the second scientist, not wearing a starfleet uniform. [ She wasn’t starfleet per say, so there was no reason for her to actually wear the uniform, but there were days where she showed up looking like an artist's palette, sticking out like a sore thumb ] T’ana was pretty sure she didn’t even go </span>
  <em>
    <span>through</span>
  </em>
  <span> the academy, she just had a doctors degree and insane ideas which seemed to work. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aright then, tell me,” she nodded, and Kashish felt surprised, she’d never expected the grumpy CMO to care.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay so, I’chaya’s dog was taken down with the first away team, where they met the ambassador.” Julie took a deep breath, this would be a little complicated to explain, “I’chaya thought it would be good for her to get somewhere to stretch.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The dog,” Kashish looked pointedly at it, “as all dogs do, dug into the earth. And the dirt got into his nails...Aaand the sample that Julie has over there has some pr-etty interesting things in it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah they do!” She nodded, “when you first look at this, it’s just a normal soil sample. Isn't it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>T’ana tentatively shook her head a no, she’d been in space long enough to know nothing was ever what it seemed like. Va’as on the other hand, was keenly looking at the two, as if somewhat understanding. Captainlike.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Correct!” She smiled, “so we stuck it under a microscope, and we found many microbes and chemicals inside it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But,” Kashish took over, “there was one type of bacteria which was very uncommon, and one mineral which had a very high concentration.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So then, we isolated them,” Julie nudged Kashish, and she whipped the container containing the bacteria off the desk, “as one does. And it was obvious that this bacteria was killed by this very chemical.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I’m pretty sure this bacteria is pretty common, as it provides a good environment for the planet’s food to grow.” Her face darkened, “So when you add this toxic chemical to the mix, it all but makes it impossible for any flora to grow there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s particularly interesting to see how this one chemical is highly toxic to just one type of bacteria in the soil,” Julie checked her notes again to be sure what she was talking about was correct, “because you'd think if it was naturally growing, the microbial ecosystem would adapt.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I also went and checked out the bioscan readings of the planet,” Kashish’s eyes ran over a page she’d stuck to the wall, “and guess what? This bacteria isn't natural. Not to the Azh’lekh district, nor to </span>
  <em>
    <span>anywhere else </span>
  </em>
  <span>on this planet .”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No…?” T’ana’s voice was uncertain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No! So this can only mean one thing,” Kashish blinked, looking at Julie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That this mineral...or chemical was put here on purpose.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I reversed the bio-scan settings, and to confirm my suspicion, there are only readings of contamination of this mineral coming from large cities and very specific small parts of the planet,” she  furrowed her brow, as if trying to remember something, “but as I recall, there are absolutely no readings coming from the….the Leah-something district of the planet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Le’ath’qe.” It was Onyx’s turn to speak up, “It’s the Le’ath’qe district.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And how do you know that, Ensign?”  T’ana tilted her head, questioning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember? The EM readings?” Onyx looked at Va’as who nodded back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He is correct, there were abnormally high EM readings in this district, they have been steady but-” they step out, closer to T’ana “-they’re too high for a population of 4,000.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this all points towards some kind of warfare,” Julie bit her lip, voice lowering, “biological warfare. Perfected to attack one single part of the ecosystem, almost undetectably to visitors such as ourselves.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as took a sharp breath in, and turned their cold brown eyes towards T’ana, “If this is correct, then the away team are in danger.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need to inform them!” Isabelle spoke up, sensing the unspoken worry hanging around the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is T’ana to the Captain?” She opened a channel, and all of a sudden Captain Freeman’s voice was heard through the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes T’ana?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need to recall the away team.” Va’as’ voice is strong, solid, and they spoke over T’ana.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you are?” Her voice is commanding, suspicious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am Lieutenant Va’as, from the Vulcan High Council, and I need to recall the away team.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a pause, and Captain Freeman groaned, “I’d love to do that Lt Sh’ringal, but they already left a few minutes ago.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shit!” Onyx swore, clammy hands fidgeting in the long sleeves of his jacket, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>shit!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isabelle could feel her heart sinking fast, Starfleet had just sent Ransom and Mariner to their own doom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Julie pressed her lips tightly, to try and hide her emotions. But Isabelle could see Julie’s distress evident on her face, her eyes darting around. On the other hand, Kashish was focusing her attention to the small container, her eyes refusing to meet any of the others’. Isabelle could feel guilt rising in her, this was all her fault. Her fault of bringing this to light, and knowing that she was sending them to their deaths. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Va’as broke the tense silence, with a small “thank you captain.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The line went static, and they could only imagine what was going on in the Captain’s brain as she processed this information.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isabelle could sense her crying. But for what? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn’t understand that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ensign Francis? Ensign Sara? Ensign Aarya? Are you still on?” Va’as spoke, their words smooth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah we’re here alright!” Francis’ voice was tinny through the communicator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you hear this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Loud and clear.” Aarya exhaled, “Tell us if you need anything from us.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am sufficient to say that I don’t know what to ask from you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe try to communicate with them? Communicators?” Aarya pointed out the obvious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, there’s a huge ion shield affecting the planet’s atmosphere. We physically couldn’t communicate with them, even if we tried.” Francis lowers their vision.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well…” Sara hums, “you could….we could reroute the signals from the communicator...change their frequency so </span>
  <em>
    <span>we </span>
  </em>
  <span>could send them a signal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just a small signal...but they won’t be able to reply.” Francis’ thoughtfully said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s our only chance, we don’t have any other way.” Va’as is calm, but Isabelle could almost see a smile on their face, their firewall went down momentarily and she could see real joy hiding behind those walls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sara, Aarya, you could reprogram my communications console.” Francis’ voice held hope in it, and Onyx could imagine the three of them smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The signal needs to be powerful enough to send down to the surface, so we’ll need something quite large and simple.” Sara sighs, “I could steal some things from security, Shaqs doesn’t care if i go...forage some things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright Ensign, you get on with that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Onyx, how good is your old earth morse code?” Va’as turned to him, and he sucked his cheeks in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pretty good...good enough to send a quick signal down.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Va’as, you know...I like you as a pseudo-captain,” Francis’ words are kind as they came out of the communicator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you’re the best captain!” Julie piped up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s good to say with you...I’d have a sufficient crew.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The four of them smile, and Va’as closed the communicator link with a short ‘click.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was time to save the two from whatever calamity fell over them, and Va’as had their own little crew’s support. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They could do it.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you liked this! Leave a kudo &lt;333 or maybe a comment? They brighten my day :)))</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. why is the fucking transporter room so far away?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>are there any starfleet laws denying you to put ur wife in the brig???</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>wow look at me dropping a chapter on a ~wednesday~ and NOT a thursday. </p><p>Is this a thousand words? Yes.<br/>Have we got to 10k words? Also yes.</p><p>I honestly never thought my longest writing (at least as of 10/3/21) would be a piece of star trek lower decks fanfiction,,,,,BUT at this point? I am TOO invested in this plot to even THINK about stopping.</p><p>irl school started on tuesday which means that i have more time on my hands when journeying and less when i get home. altho,,,, i get more tired :///</p><p>So in this chapter they're goingggg to the planet. Yes I am dragging this out, but to be COMPLETELY HONEST? I love writing these bridgey-interludey scenes. I love them so much. this is also full of cliches [the cliche scene where they see each other in alien clothes lmao]</p><p> </p><p>as usual, yell at me if there are any spelling/grammar mistakes. i love u for reading thissssss!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uuuuh,” the voice groaned , slamming a pillow into his face, “get uuup!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned his face into the pillow, a natural response, and pulled the covers over his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Get!” Her words were shrill, and he rolled up, eyes blinking at the bright lights illuminating the bedroom.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Computer- lights to 50%” he yawned, eyes blearily opening to reveal Mariner, arms crossed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Computer belay that order, lights stay at 100%” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom scoffed, “this is my room, and the computer listens to my voice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner smiled at him, a sickly sweet smile, one he’d often see on her lips before she’d commit another federation crime. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Computer override code Carol-Nine-Alpha-Zeta, lights at 75%-“ her dark brown eyes glanced at him, lingering for a few seconds too long on his bare chest, “-is that bright enough for you to get your ass out of bed?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He raised an eyebrow, piercing blue eyes looking directly into her own, “Using explicit language towards a Superior Officer?-“ he brushed the blonde hair out of his eyes, “-I should throw you in the brig for that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Glad you can’t throw your own wife into the brig” She perched on the edge of the bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that a law?” He questioned her words, he didn’t even notice her getting closer. It seemed natural, something they’d done a thousand times.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno I’venever read a Starfleet manual in my life.” She leaned back, shrugging, suddenly feeling herself slowly slip off the satin covers of the bed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Abruptly, he reached out, a large hand gripping her own, “Hey, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have married someone who falls off beds.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hilarious,” she deadpanned, throwing a small PADD at him from her belt, “Captain gave us specs of the mission.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His brow furrowed as he read the specifications of the plan, nothing he hadn’t seen before. He could see Mariner’s face in the semi-dark screen’s reflection, her neck craning around to see the screen along with him. Without a thought, he turned it, making it a little more awkward for him and a little less awkward for her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sat together in silence, eyes fixated on the screen. Mariner absentmindedly scrolled down, whilst he held the screen up, moving closer to each other to make this work. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So.” She turned, and their noses were almost touching, her posture remained firm as he hummed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So?” He took a breath, the person beside him smelled like his quarters, with a hint of engine oil.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need to be in the transporter room at 0940 hours, which is,” she looked at the PADD, Jack clicking the power button off and on again so the time was evident on the locked screen, “in 20 minutes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do we need to pack anything?” He stuck his legs out from under the silk blanket, and Mariner noticed how he shifted himself around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stretched her own legs out, eyes lowered to the floor as Ransom emerged from the bed in his (Definitely not Starfleet Regulation) grey boxers, their grey silk matching everything else in this room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Smooth. Easy on the eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Perfect.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom caught Mariner’s wavery gaze in the mirror, his own falling over Mariner’s pyjamas, a vivid red pair with an equally witten slogan on them “F*CK AUTHORITY.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smiled to himself as his eyes came back to the mirror, cheeks slightly reddening. He’s always liked Mariner because she’s said what her thoughts were, she spoke her mind. She was literally someone with no filter, and she had a ‘no nonsense’ thing going on. She didn’t care about rules or protocol, didn’t go through piles and piles of paperwork where people’s lives were at risk. Ransom could never admit it, but he loved that about her. In a ship where everyone tried to better the way they presented themselves, with a crew who spoke with calculated words and accurate data, he knew it was incredibly hard to find someone like this. Find someone as open and as clear as Mariner, find somebody to stay around without his mask, find someone who liked - no tolerated - how he was, how he </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner smiled at him through the mirror, eyes meeting each other in simple harmony. And he froze, feeling almost mind-read. (Did she have mind-reading powers.) “Alright come on, Ankorrian clothes are in the living room, get ‘em yourself.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure thing.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She disappeared into the living room, and grabbed the first pile of clothes on the bed. She rifled through them ,hands tentatively bringing out each piece of clothing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn these aliens sure like their clothes.” She muttered, skirt hanging limply in her hands. “They overestimated how tall I am,” she looked at the huge skirt as she walked towards the mirror, dragging the green bottom of the skirt over the floor, the sequins clattering as they hit the varnished wooden floors.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And they overestimated how tall </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> am,” Ransom brought a white cotton-like over near his chest, the ends fell to just over his knees. The embroidered pattern on it resembling a garden in full bloom, full with an array of different threads. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner laughed at that, the shirt (more tunic than anything else) and her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dude we literally have 10 minutes to get ourselves to the transporter room.” She stilled, grabbing her pile and rushing towards the bathroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom heard the sound of running water as soon as the door closed, and pulled the shirt over his head. He bit his lip as he realised it’s v-neck opened down half his chest, he was sure that the huge bell-sleeves were taking up more of the fabric than anything else. The colours were vibrant against their plain white background, and he could feel the rough cotton against his knees. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mariner?” He called out, and the rush of water stilled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” The voice was muffled, the bathroom door heavy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We only have two minutes left!” His voice had a sense of urgency and he was met with a hurried reply of “coming!!!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> He looked at the pair of trousers on the side, they were a dim khaki, and stepped into them, realising how </span>
  <em>
    <span>well </span>
  </em>
  <span>they fitted him. He tied their drawstring, tightening it around his hips, and took one last look in the mirror.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He looked stunning, if he said so himself.</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“You better be decent because I’m coming out!” Mariner teased.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m your husband!” He joked back, but when she steps out, she isn't surprised to see him fully clothed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she steps out he too is surprised. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her fluffy hair is tied down into two short plaits, strands of curly hair slipping and sticking out. Her top was a mango yellow, with purple stripes embroidered onto the hem. The sleeves were long, and made out of something which looked very similar to a criss-cross of lace. The rounded collar adorned with bright purple sequins which matched it perfectly. Her skirt was long, trailing behind her as she walked closer, the small golden bells on her waist tinkering. The sequins on her dark green skirt were made of tiny mirrors, reflecting the bright lights in his room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For the first time in his life, Jack Ransom found himself at a loss for words. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Captain Freeman to First Officer Ransom!” A tinny voice yelled from the communicator -moment lost- and Ransom clicked on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jack where are you? You know the Ankorrians respect punctuality over all things.” Her voice is commanding, and he nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah we’re coming!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The communicator went dead and he cleared his voice, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“M’lady?” He offered his arm to her, pressing the console on his wall to open the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both cast a look onto the alpha shift, the everyday clamour of the ship that they were so used to, the clamour they were soon going to leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“M’lord.” She smiled back, staying interlocked for a few moments, completely still. Mariner could see his chest rise up and down faster through the low cut of the shirt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The communicator chirped again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why is the fucking transporter room so far away?”</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So i based this clothing off some indian clothes - the Kurta and the Ghagra Choli [but added some of my own twists to them:) ] - honestly Mariner's clothes are based on one I owned back when i was like.9 and it was one of the PRETTIEST THINGS EVER. It was a gift and the decor on it was so BEAUTIFUL!! Ransom's shirt on the other hand, was based on a kurta i saw at a wedding this once, and I loved it so much. [It wasn't cut that low lol but still!!] Anyway stay tuned for the next chapter because I'm basing this alien language on hindi! if you liked this, leave a kudo!! or mayb a comment ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. pink stalactites</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>me, publishing this chapter a week late: 😅😅</p><p>im sorry its quite short ive been stRESSED with skOol 🤪🤡 and stuff. here watch me Write Cringy Things onto a google doc bc whY not. this chapter has RINGS!! and “will u marry me’s” which is cool 👀👀. I feel like im gonna complete this fic partly bc self indulgence and partly bc of SPITE. i have Written 10k words and I Will End This Well &lt;3  </p><p>i feel like these two are just going to have fluffy adventures (tm) whilst the people on the ship are on RED ALERT because of the chemicals they found in the soil. </p><p>spot the romeo and juliet line.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As soon as he could feel himself materialise on the world, Ransom had a feeling, things wouldn’t be that smooth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The sticky humidity hit him like a freight train; his blonde hair falling out of its gelled structure, the fast chirps of the animals, the slow steps of padded feet. His hands felt clammy around the handle of the small wooden box, containing the peace offering.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He felt eyes on him, as if thousands of beady little eyes were peering into the little open roofed chamber he’d found himself in. He noticed the small gaps in the wooden logs they’d used as walls here, </span>
  <em>
    <span>ah</span>
  </em>
  <span>, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the eyes were perfectly possible.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard a small sound, and whipped around, blue ears searching for Mariner, face tensing at the sound of the steps. He breathed a small sigh as he saw her appear next to him, arms full with a larger, metal box, containing supplies for the plant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honestly, they should have given you this.” She smiled, and he hummed back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait a sec-“ she slowly placed the box near her feet, the small glossed pumps cooler than the brown boots Ransom was wearing, her voice was low “-why have we beamed down </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhhhh…” Ransom clenched his teeth, eyes meeting Mariner with a small nervous smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Boimler would know, lemme get a line to him,” she grabbed her combadge from her green sidebag, handles attached to the small rope encircling her waist; tying the skirt in, like a little belt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She clicked the combadge, starfleet symbol glinting when she ran a thumb over it, “Mariner to Boimler?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Silence</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mariner to USS Cerritos?” she tried again, voice a little higher, urgent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Silence, punctuated by some static.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took a sharp breath as her attempts to contact the ship unyielding.  Although his body stayed calm, the violent tremor in his hand revealed his frantic thoughts. Mariner gave a supportive glance at him, hand subconsciously falling onto his. He clutched it like a lifeline, mind barely registering it. Instead, it raced, thousands of possibilities going through her mind at high speeds. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s okay Ransom</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he breathed, trying to calm himself down,</span>
  <em>
    <span> You’ve been in worse stitches.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner looked over to see him muttering a self supportive “...you’ll get through this Jack” and looked at him questioningly, hand forgotten on his. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt natural, his large fingers wrapping around her smaller ones; he felt grateful for the human contact - the room devoid of life, (apart from the prying eyes he could swear he saw) and by the way she was gripping onto them, she probably was grateful for it too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought Commander Jack Ransom had seen things,” her voice was warm, warm enough to hide the rapidly cooling fear around them</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Commander Jack Ransom has never been on an alien planet in an unmarked room, without some kind of contact with the ship.” he tensely said, eyes darting from one side to the other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, everything’s fine,” Mariner replied in the same tone, stepping closer to him, “Luckily for you, I’ve been in worse places.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah?” He relaxed a little, and Mariner could almost see a weight lifting off his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Of course he needs to be reassured, it’s jack.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she decided to keep up the banter, for his sake (more like his sanity, pfft.) and settled down the grassy floor under them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s no point in standing up-” she replied to his questioning eyebrow as she sat down, she could feel the soft, long grass around her, creeping up to her elbows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took a breath; taking in the heavy, hot air around him; taking in the hot sun’s heat, beating down on them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>”Did you know?” He peered at her, face in the sun, golden hair brightened by the rays, “I had a dream last night.”</p><p> </p><p>”So did I,” she smirked, patting the area beside her, surprised by him actually sitting down beside her.</p><p> </p><p>”Oh?” He grunted, sitting down, legs resting on the ground, body leaning on arms on the grass, “what did you dream about?”</p><p> </p><p>“That dreamers often lie.” She laughed, and it seemed as if they were the only two in the world. (Well, it <em>did</em> seem like they were, might as well have fun with it.) </p><p> </p><p>He rolled his eyes, in mock annoyance, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face for too long. To an outsider, they looked like a happy couple, sunbathing in a secluded park. </p><p>
  <span><br/>
He pulled himself up, after a while, back cramping. Mariner was picking grass, twirling each blade around her fingers. Suddenly, he could feel </span>
  <span>something jabbing his thigh as he tried to cross his legs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then it all came back to him.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>B’hand’an.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Aliens. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Proof.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Rings.</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>He shoved his hands into his pockets wordlessly, his smile surprising Mariner, who’s never seen his expression change so fast. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she followed his hands down, as he pulled out two shining bands from his pocket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The captain had pressed them into his hands, just before the two had beamed off, giving him barely enough time to register them. He felt their hard crystal sit uncomfortably between his palm and his trouser pocket, as he’d shoved his hands into them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Rings?” She questioned, brown eyes blinking, catching the rays of the bright sun of the planet. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Rings indeed, Captain said she wanted us to look ‘authentic’,” he passed a larger, chunkier one to her, the green emerald glinting in the light. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mariner returned his good natured smile, taking hold of the ring. “Isn’t this a bit large?” She questioned, the band circling her finger, loose, dangerously close to falling off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s for the Ankorrian Ritual - </span>
  <em>
    <span>B’hand’han</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The name seemed familiar, and she nodded, “yeah Boims was talking about it, it’s something to do with their little telepathic jazz thingy they've got going on?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I'm not too sure, but it means join in Ankorrian,” he questioned, unsteady with his own words, he’d read some of the phrases in Ankorrian last night, hoping Mariner covered the rest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think you have to prove your bond with the other?” She bit her lip, eyebrows furrowing, forehead creasing; straining her mind to remember what this all meant. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He noticed her eyes had fallen onto her own hand, absent-mindedly tapping the soil under the grass, deep in thought. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew she would find a way for them to get out of here, he could trust her to get him out of any situation. And he hoped she felt the same about him, her trust meant everything to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A stupid idea flashed through his mind, remembering something he’d overheard when the captain was talking about human and Ankorrian systems. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This fake marriage deserved a fake little engagement, and, they had nothing to lose anyway.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she took her eyes off her own slender hand, she was surprised to see Ransom on his knees, something glittering in his hands, holding it out for her. Her breath hitched when she saw the familiar rose tinted stones, cut into it’s familiar rose shape.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...marry me Beckett?” He looked up, eyes hopeful, and for a moment, the world felt like time had stopped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d seen this ring. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew this ring.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The beautiful pink crystals she’d seen on her grandmother’s hands years ago, crystals she remembered her grandfather finding for her grandmother back on earth. Looking for them in a cave, pieces from beautiful stalactites she’d seen hanging from the high roof, darkness around them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beckett?” He tried again, and she turned to him, as if looking through swiftly clearing fog. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm?” She blinked, and looked at him, and down back the ring he held out to her, the pink illuminated in the sun. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh the ring?” She nodded, eyes skirting to the place Ransom kept throwing a look at. It looked strangely like a door, the logs slightly uneven on one side, a tiny gap barely visible. “Yeah yeah,” she cleared her throat, a little louder this time, a little wooden, “it’s awfully cute of you to do this, even when we’ve been married for four years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their eyes met, and they both exhaled; she grabbed the ring and hurriedly wore it, Ransom doing the same. (She’d have time later to question him about it, and she wasn’t going to let her mother off the hook either.) </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ye b’hand’an holden</span>
  </em>
  <span>” a deep voice rumbled, and awkward eyes wandered to the suspected door. It opened to reveal a humanoid wearing the same shirt that Ransom wore, loose, trailing around their hips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their long black hair was pulled into a bun, forehead ridges pointing downwards - much like Bajorans; and they had olive skin, (Mariner could almost swear she saw something glowing in the Humanoid’s abdomen), and large hands (larger than his own, Ransom figured) </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What does that mean?” She quickly whispered to him, and he shrugged, whacking the UT with his hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh it’s an ancient phrase,” they speak again, walking closer towards them, “the magic in those words cannot be translated by your puny little piece of metal.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...okay…” Mariner muttered, expression quickly turning sour at the Ankorrian’s attitude, who didn’t seem to notice her change.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This was proof, and you proved yourselves well,” they continue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom interrupted them, “proof? proof of what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Proof of your bond with her, proof that even without telepathy, you humans are still strongly linked with the ones you love.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ransom smiled politely, and held out his arm for Mariner as they followed the Ankorrian outside, he could feel a weight on the crook of his elbow, and he turned down to see Mariner looking up at him. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ones we love… </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>His heart seemed to flutter. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This hadn’t happened before.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>B’hand’an — i stole this from the hindi word bandhan which means bond. im a Kool Kid.<br/>Ye — means this in hindi fhdjksd.</p><p>btw, i am not culturally appropriating indian culture / hindi — I’m indian and i speak hindi.  I just think some elements could be used in this alien culture because they look cool. </p><p> </p><p>anyway thanks for reading this fic!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. We'll get through this, won't we</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Fvadt!” she muttered, cursing in a language she’d only heard her grandmother speak. Fuck.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>OH my GOD im SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR A MONTH AND LIKE. TWO WEEKS. IM SO SORRY. i COMPLETELY forgot ab this eNTIRE fic and school got sooo stressfull :(((((((((((((((( anYWAY have a chapter with my OC's because i can only write them with immense speed. </p><p>Yes secrets are revealed! [general sounds of surprise] one of them finds out mariner's freeman's daughter. Also, we find out family secrets about a member of the GANG. </p><p>Okay thank u for reading (and stayin w meeee)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Will Shaqs know that I took this?” Sara picked up a large box, full of metallic bits, the large symbol of Starfleet Security evident on the side, “Yes, yes he would-” she placed it on the glass table in front of the three of them, “-but will he <em> care </em>?”</p><p> </p><p>“I dunno, that's some high quality security equipment you’ve stolen-” Aarya interrupted her, her voice drowned by the sounds of metals clanking, as the bajoran sifted through the box. </p><p> </p><p>“Whatever, and <em> however </em> she’s done it-” Francis cleared their throat, pointedly looking at the bajoran, as she rumaged through it, the metallic sounds of screws and magnets around them , “Sara <em> has </em>gotten us the magnetic field localiser we need to get through this stupid ion storm.”</p><p> </p><p>“Honestly I still think we should try and set the ionic field on fire-” Onyx chimed in, sitting on the table, legs dangling down, missing the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“No that’s a terrible idea Onyx,” Aarya sighed, tying her hair into a loose bun, shoulder length strands falling out, “if you set fire to the ionic field, you could kill all the Ankorrians!”</p><p> </p><p>His face turned sheepish, “Yeah, I- I knew that.”</p><p> </p><p>She just scoffed, turning back to the large cardboard box, “Do you really think you’ll be able to catch a starfleet frequency?” </p><p> </p><p>Francis stayed silent at that, holding a screwdriver pointed towards Sara, as she worked on the shiny black screen of the console, their long , dyed red hair loose and falling down their face. </p><p> </p><p>The small room was a tight fit for the four of them, and they stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes focused on one object. </p><p> </p><p>“What I don’t understand is,” Sara straightened herself, muscles tightening in her shoulders, “Why the fuck did the captain let them beam down if she knew we couldn’t communicate with them.” </p><p> </p><p>“Because Kashish hadn’t <em> kidnapped </em>I’chaya’s dog before they’d made the decision to come down.” Francis watched as Sara made a face, her nose ridges scrunching up as the smell of hot metal rushed out of the console.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey!-” they grabbed the steaming device out of her hands, blowing at the hot air, “I’ve only got one fucking console! And, unlike <em> you </em>, I don’t have an uncle as the cso of a starship!”</p><p> </p><p>“Okaaay…” Aarya muttered, a hand reaching out to grasp the console, “Maybe we can deal with this as <em> adults </em> . Adults who make <em> mistakes </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>The two rolled their eyes, and Aarya almost groaned in despair; this was like handling <em> children </em> - no, this was like handling <em> toddlers </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“It looks like you’ll need some more electrical components-” she flipped the comm device over, the soot darkening the motherboard, “-and some perelithium batteries.”</p><p>“Perelithium…” Sara hummed, “who the fuck has perelithium batteries lying around.” </p><p> </p><p>“Lieutenant Va’as to Ensign Onyx,” the voice chirped, unexpectedly, and the four turned to it instinctively. </p><p> </p><p>“Yes?” </p><p> </p><p>“I was checking in to see how you four are getting on in your….” they could hear the voice pause, a hesitant pause, “...adventure” </p><p> </p><p>“It’s going fine Va’as,” Onyx gritted his teeth, Sara had been eyeing his metallic arm for the past few seconds; he pulled it back, and she turned her eyes away.</p><p> </p><p>“I hope you do this as fast as possible, or should I remind you that there are lives-” </p><p> </p><p>“I know,” he rolled his eyes, and he knew (or, at least hoped) Va’as didn’t think of him as that irresponsible.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh and...just before I end this intermission,” they paused, “is Ensign Kurti with you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” Francis clicked their tongue, “Yeah I’m here, why did you ask?” </p><p> </p><p>The silence four could hear, was <em> deafening, </em>and Francis could almost see Va’as flustered and dumbfounded in their quarters; the incense floating around them, dark corners lit by small candle flames. </p><p> </p><p>“Just,...uh….” they faltered, “no reason. Lieutenant Va’as out.”</p><p> </p><p>“What was <em> that </em> all about?” Aarya questioned, to which Francis shrugged, sitting back down on their little plastic chair. </p><p> </p><p>“Sara why are you looking at Onyx like that,” came Aarya’s tired voice again, catching her eyes wandering towards his shining hand.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, <em> Listen </em> , I know this sounds <em> bad.” </em>Sara started, and the group collectively groaned; nothing good ever came out of these kind of situations.</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Lt. Va’as closed their eyes in their quarters, the comfortable roughness of the Vulcan rug underneath them. The warm smells of the countless candles Francis had gifted them over the year, wafted through the dim room, their sweet earthly smells a stark difference to the Vulcan scents they’d grown up with. </p><p> </p><p>It was a little weird, at first, getting used to all the...<em> humans </em> on the ship, Va’as had met Orions, Tellarites, Andorians - but never this many humans, with their loud chewing and their strong smelling food and their incessant small talk. The number of Vulcans on this ship were pitifully low, and apart from I’chaya and Buddy; there really wasn’t anyone else to interact with. [That was because there were more Vulcans in the upper decks, but Va’as was usually restricted to interact with the lower decks they were usually commanding.]</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>But whatever the humans call….<em> friendship </em> ...really started to reveal it’s value, especially on a ship full of sociable, pack-loving aliens. At first, the <em> mere thought </em>of irrelevant things rushing through their ears, at immense speed, was horrifying. But as they thought back to the fond evenings they’ve shared with the band of lower decks, the talk didn’t seem too irrelevant anymore.</p><p> </p><p>Va’as could find themselves almost <em> caring </em> about them, them being something <em> more </em> than just workmates. Of course, perhaps Onyx, Sara and Aarya could all be classed as workmates, since they technically did work with Va’as. (albeit, only Onyx worked on their deck, the rest just showed up on their deck from time to time.) But, there wasn’t really an excuse for constantly hanging around Kashish, or Julie, or Isabelle, and definitely not <em> Francis </em>.</p><p> </p><p>And yet, Va’as had spent almost an hour listening about Onyx’s and Sara’s cats, and their stupid little cat feud between each other, (and the cat’s fueds with Aarya’s dog, which theyre not quite sure how she acquired.) And yet, they’d allowed Julie and Isabelle, letting the two into their room, to admire their quarters, and check out how soft their couch was. They’d let Kashish and Francis take a small necklace of theirs, and package it over to their sisters back on earth, </p><p> </p><p>Va’as didn’t really understand these humans, and their weird little customs, but they didn’t mind taking part in them. They didn’t understand how I’chaya had given in on getting a large dog, which they then didn’t mind letting loose all over the ship. But come to think of it, I’chaya didn’t conform to the Vulcan standards, they liked to do things...differently.</p><p> </p><p>Speaking of that dog…</p><p> </p><p>“Lt Va’as to Dr Nayak, please come in,” they cleared their throat, and hoped their message went through.</p><p> </p><p>As usual, the line was dead, and they sighed, rubbing the bridge of their forehead with their fingers, <em> Va’as was this close to strapping Kashish’s communicator to her head, </em> <b> <em>just </em> </b> <em> so she’d answer them. </em></p><p> </p><p>“Computer please convey a message from Lt Va’as Sh’ring’al ,” they spoke out loud to the room, and heard the voice-controlled computer in their room click in response.</p><p> </p><p>“.....<em> Working… </em>.” the computer hummed electrically, “Is this an inship communication, or a subspace communication?”</p><p> </p><p>“Inship communication,” </p><p> </p><p>“....<em> Working… </em>.” there was another pause, “Who would you like to send this message to?”</p><p> </p><p>“Dr K Nayak?” </p><p> </p><p>“A message for Dr Kashish Nayak, stationed at Medbay, Deck Three.”</p><p> </p><p>“Confirmed,” </p><p> </p><p>“Please state your message after the tone,” and Va’as heard the loud beep.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello Dr Nayak, I’m afraid to be sending you this message since you have once again chosen to…” they hesitated, “<em> ignore </em> your communicator for an extended period of time.”</p><p> </p><p>There was a beat.</p><p> </p><p>“I am calling to ask you if there are any new updates on this situation, as well as this, I would like to ask you to confer with me about revealing this information to the captain, and further on, the ship. I hope you see this message on your PADD. Goodbye.” </p><p> </p><p>The recording clicked, and Va’as closed their eyes, mind returning back to the depths of meditation.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Kashish did not hear that message.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Kashish didn’t even check her PADD. </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Kashish was currently with Julie, sitting in the Captain’s ready room, legs curling around the chair. She’d taken her black hair out of a ponytail, bushy and around her shoulders, eyes not meeting any others. She felt like she could hear everything, every single whir of the computer, every single pulse of the ship, every single beat of the captain’s heart. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> It was too loud. </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“I assure you, we are doing as much as possible for Ensign Mariner, and First Officer Ransom’s safety,” Dr Martinez cleared her throat, her voice trying to lull the room in a false sense of security.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m trying my absolute best to figure out what’s going on down on that planet…” Dr Nayak supplied, continuing off Julie’s comment, her words slightly lingering as she tried to place the next words in the nicest way possible, “...but without any contact from them, I’m afraid my results won’t be as accurate as possible.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Counselor Monai pressed her lips together, leaning back into the chair in front of the captain’s desk, her hands calm on the table, tapping a slow rhythm into the glass. Her green eyes looked directly into the dark ones of the captain, and she could sense...an intense sadness? </p><p> </p><p>Surprising,</p><p> </p><p>“So what exactly <em> are </em>you doing?” Her voice was sharp, thinly veiling the emotions inside it, and the three in front of her could see something glimmer in her eyes,</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I’m trying to figure out ,using the environmental maps that we have,” Julie decided to leave the fact that the maps she had were crude, hastily made from random readings, the thick atmosphere of the planet made it nearly impossible to get any sensors through, “the origin of where this chemical came from.”</p><p> </p><p>She passed the small box over, pushing it with her trembling fingers, the tension in the room was unbearable; and Julie wished it would be over soon.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“And I’m-” Kashish jumped up from the chair, kind brown eyes meeting those opposite hers, “-trying to counteract the effects of this chemical on the specific bacteria it targets.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Targets?”</p><p> </p><p>“This chemical is only found in the Le’ath’qe district, and suspiciously, nowhere else.” Julie muttered, “It’s definitely not native to this region of the planet.”</p><p> </p><p>“It has a detrimental effect on the flora and fauna over a period of time….” Kashish bit her lip, “which I am currently trying to figure out right now.”</p><p> </p><p>“What I’m trying to say, is that, it looks like someone’s trying to sabotage the place.” Julie coughed, face staying carefully neutral.</p><p> </p><p>“Sabotage? How?” The captain’s voice was cold, and drowning in worry. </p><p> </p><p>“Ensign Shah to Dr Martinez please come in?” Julie’s combadge buzzed, and she accepted it with a click, her expression flashing a quick apology. </p><p> </p><p>“Yes I’m here?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh that’s great, perfect, Va’as came and told me that they couldn’t reach Kashish, so I hope she’s with you?”</p><p> </p><p>“YEAH! I’m here!” Her cheerful tone filled the small room, and there was a sigh from the tinny voices inside.</p><p> </p><p>“Told you she would be arou-” Sara’s voice was cut off by the captain’s own.</p><p> </p><p>“And who are these people? Do they <em> know?” </em></p><p> </p><p>The three diverted their gaze, and the captain took that as an yes, she blinked, studying the three coldly.</p><p> </p><p>There was Dr Martinez, the model zoologist and botanist; her brown eyes lowering and hidden under her floppy brown hair. Carol had seen her around the ship, consulted her multiple times, on minor qualms about alien plants, and creatures. She could usually be found in the arboretum, tending for another piece of extraterrestrial fauna, wearing her off duty overalls and her green undershirt. She was academy educated, and had been at her post for the past two years, enjoying the company of her fellow officers, and easing into the starship life. </p><p> </p><p>There was Counselor Monai, next in line to become head counselor of the entire ship. She studied on betazoid, coming over to starfleet on a scientific exchange, open for a new experience amongst aliens. The betazoid was extremely perceptive, although keeping her own personality open and easy, a bright smile on her face. Her short brown hair swung as she turned her head to the communication device, her lilac counselling dress uniform, creased and covered in flour. Of course she was an avid baker, the captain herself had found her in the pantry, selecting ingredients for her newest baking escapade. </p><p> </p><p>Then there was Dr Nayak, the speedily promoted cadet from an irrelevant space station out near Andor. She’d been transferred over to the Cerritos from the Lilac, where she’d chosen to experience working in a real medbay, rather than studying hours in the academy. With a year of working on the Lilac under her belt, she’d been accepted onto this ship due to the suggestion of her previous CMO (and Mentor) Dr Raphael. Kashish worked surprisingly well in the medbay, her bedside manner better than most doctors Carol had seen in the quadrant. Her shoulder length black hair fell down her bright blue jumper in slight ringlets, fringe covering soft brown eyes, hands shaking as they fiddled with each other. Carol side eyed her, squinting as she saw the slight points of the eyebrows, curving above, just visible below the fringe.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello..?” Another voice hesitated, snapping the captain out of her spell “Is this the captain speaking?”</p><p> </p><p>“This is the captain speaking, Yes,” Captain Freeman swallowed, the voice on the communicator belonged to Ensign Shah, a new ensign transported over from the last trip they’d made to Earth. Close friends with Ensign Boimler, cropped up in conversation she’d heard from her daughter…</p><p> </p><p>Her daughter who was in grave danger and she could do <em> nothing </em>to help.</p><p> </p><p>“I assume Dr Nayak and Martinez would have given you the rundown on everything.” Va’as cleared their throat. </p><p> </p><p>“They did-” She sucked her teeth, making sure her next words were careful, stayed careful.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, we have another, quite discouraging update.”</p><p> </p><p>She always <em> loved </em> vulcans, and their <em> goddamn optimism </em>. </p><p> </p><p>“Go on.”</p><p> </p><p>A new voice took over the comm, uneven and dry, “We cannot seem to make contact with them. Nor locate them. We’ll need perelithium to get the signal past the ion storm. We won’t be able to make it, unless we find some of that-”</p><p> </p><p>The captain sighed; Ensign Francis, an ensign in communications, had spoken to her on many, many occasions, and she knew she could trust them. Carol was quite pleased with their interest in xenolinguistics; coming with a starfleet graduation letter of excellence. She’d come to realise that there probably wasn’t a single linguist on this ship who could spot the patterns in the extraterrestrial languages they encountered. It was probably down to their extensive work in Ancient Xenolanguages, giving them a huge range in newer languages formed from them.</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>“Is there any way to contact them? Inform them of the war?” her voice was tight, almost pleading.</p><p> </p><p>“As of now? No. But I’m sure we could find some perelithium in a colon-”</p><p> </p><p>“We could find it? Where?”</p><p> </p><p>“In a colony,” Va’as calm voice is back, “nearby, but to do so, we would have to leave Ankorra’s Orbit, and therefore not catch any weak signal - if they find a way to make a weak signal - they send out.”</p><p> </p><p>Captain Freeman sunk down into the chair, her long, wrinkling fingers rubbing tired eyes in vain. “I’m going to have to make a call to the admiral.”</p><p> </p><p>“A-admiral?” Kashish stuttered, “why? Surely we should inform the ship first, so we can get shipwide progress on bringing the first officer and the ensign back.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’d actually like to keep this on the low. I don't want the entire ship thinking that I mistakenly put our first officer and <em> Beckett </em>in some sort of danger. You nine know enough, we’ll get through.”</p><p> </p><p>“Bu-”</p><p> </p><p>“I <b> <em>said </em> </b>we’ll get through this.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay then.” she pressed her lips together and turned away to face the cloudy planet outside, twinkling stars dotted around, framing the brown surface.</p><p> </p><p>“Keep up the work, you’re dismissed.”</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>“Shit i think I left the chemical sample back in the Captain’s ready room.” Kashish whined, realising as her friends clambered into the turbolift. </p><p> </p><p>“Go get it back then I guess!” </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah yeah, okay Julie, no need to get up in my face n all.” she smiled, then faltered, “The captain seemed real tense today, didn’t she?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, you’re right, I could sense such a storm of emotions from that room, it was hard to differentiate between them.” Isabelle nodded, “She was worried though, really worried. Terrified, scared, she was almost afraid of….losing something? Do you get me?”</p><p> </p><p>“I do, I do,” Julie hummed in agreement, “Maybe Ransom meant more to her than we ever thought?”</p><p> </p><p>Kashish noticed Julie’s smirk, and rolled her eyes, “Oh COME on, you know the Captain’s like. Married?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, that's a BAD image,” Isabelle scrunched up her nose, “Bad, No Good Image.”</p><p> </p><p>“I was just kidding!” </p><p> </p><p>Kashish just raised an eyebrow, watching as the lift doors shut. She turned back to walk down the corridor to the bridge. </p><p> </p><p>The automatic doors opened with a soft “whoosh” and she stepped onto the bridge, the soles of her boots clicking against the hard floor of the room. The inconsistent, chirpy noises of the navigation sensor matched the steady clicks and beeps of the consoles and computers built into the room’s design. </p><p> </p><p>Delta shift. There were no faces she recognised, dotted around consoles and corners of the room, sitting in their seats, focus fully on their respective work. </p><p> </p><p><em> No </em> , there <em> was </em>a face she recognised. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>Recognised <em> very </em>well.</p><p>
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</p><p>“Hey! Andy!” she smiled, rushing over to the Chief Engineering Officer of the ship; shaggy blonde hair falling over his tired, bloodshot eyes, his mustached unbrushed, hidden behind the screen; sitting in the captain’s chair. She perched on the side of the chair on his right, turning to him, face in her palms, “Finally out of your mancave huh?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hi to you too,” he took a breath, and tore his eyes off his PADD’s screen, covered in numbers and tables, “and, come on, engineering isn’t even <em> that </em>much of a mancave.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is it tho?” she squinted, a smile on her face, “you’re literally in Engineering nearly every second of the day, coming up to higher decks is like touching some grass for you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Pfft” he scoffed, and leaned back into his chair, “It’s usually that you’re never up to see me on delta shift at the bridge.”</p><p> </p><p>“Eugh, you know I need my beauty sleep, how do you <em> stay </em> working <em> all this time?” </em></p><p> </p><p>“It’s mostly just a lot of pain, mixed with some determination to gain enough Command experience to get my own ship one day.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh my god! Command!” she said, a little too loudly, with a huge grin on her face, even as he tried to shush her, “That would be absolutely amazing!” </p><p> </p><p>“Isn’t it? Now quiet down, don’t need everyone to know.”</p><p> </p><p>“So,” she continued, not taking heed of him, “who would you have as your dream crew?”</p><p> </p><p>“My dream crew?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh you know, your XO, your science officer, your CMO, yo-”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes yes, I get it.” He hesitated, “Well, my engineering officer would be Rutherford, my first officer...probably that one Vulcan from Engineering, what’s their name?”</p><p> </p><p>“Va’as?” She supplied.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah yes, Va’as, them. I’d have to keep Chakotay around, or he’d riot.”</p><p> </p><p>He got a laugh for that.</p><p> </p><p>“And then...My CMO, that would have to be you, and m-”</p><p> </p><p>“Me?” she was surprised, “A CMO? You’ve got to be kidding me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, if the shoe fits,” he smiled, and looked back at his PADD again, “shift’s ending soon, what were you here to do?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh I was here to talk to our dear Captain,” Kashish pointed at the door.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, she hasn’t come out for nearly two hours now, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, thanks Andy.” Kashish nodded, and stood up.</p><p> </p><p>He stretched, and ruffled her hair, his lanky height almost double hers.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay bye then.”</p><p> </p><p>With almost 18 years between them, Dr Kashish Nayak was the closest thing Lieutenant Commander Andy Billups had to a daughter figure.  She’d seen him almost countless times, him being a close friend of her mother’s back on Earth. He’d seen her grow up, shown up to more sports days and school plays than he could count. He’d been the first person to greet her on this ship, been the person who advised her to transfer here. He’d always felt a pang of guilt when she always asked him about her biological dad as a child, always barred from telling her by her mother. Even on this ship, as a 22 year old, he wouldn’t tell her who her bio dad was, staying true to the pact made with her mother. They were close, a somewhat tired uncle and hyper niece duo, and it worked for the two of them. </p><p> </p><p>He sent a text over from his PADD, in the turbolift.</p><p>
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  <em> Your daughter’s fine Chak. </em>
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</p><p>And he hoped Commander <em> fucking  </em>Chakotay could <em> ever </em> respond to his goddamn PADD texts <em> for once. </em></p><p>
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</p><p>Kashish stood outside the door to the captain’s ready room, and she could just about hear the panicked conversation inside.</p><p> </p><p>“Your daughter’s in trouble Ben, she’s stuck down there on that godforsaken planet and I can’t do <em> anything </em>to help.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Who’s daughter? Who? Mariner? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Our daughter’s stuck on that stupid fucking planet and she’s with fucking ransom! Ransom! Is that WHAT you say to make me feel better? She’s way better than him. I fucked this up Ben, I fucked this all up.”</p><p>
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  <em> Our daughter?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p><em> The </em> <b> <em>captain’s </em> </b> <em> daughter?? </em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Oh? Oh no. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Fvadt!” she muttered, cursing in a language she’d only heard her grandmother speak.</p><p> </p><p>Fuck.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>leave a kudo if u liked it!! idk the next chapter will come when i figure out what my scribbles mean asjknsdjnsdcjncsd.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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